Exploring Art through Video - Video Data Bank

The end of the 1960s was a monumental time in the cultural and political history of the United States, a time that gave way to new ways of looking at the world through a personal, artistic point of view. The medium of video began to emerge as an art form during this time as well, and in 1976, the Video Data Bank (VDB) was founded as a provider of alternative and artistic video. Part of the renowned Art Institute of Chicago, the Video Data Bank has become an authoritative resource and distributor for videos created by and about contemporary artists.

Setting Things in Motion with 4D

The VDB needed a data management tool that could be as versatile as the video art that it houses. With over 1,100 video titles and 300 artists, the VDB required a solution that could not only accommodate the existing inventory, but one that could be fully scalable to meet demands in the future. According to Kate Horsfield, director of the VDB, "The decision to go with 4D was based on its capability to be programmed for anything we wanted to do. This included catalog information such as tape descriptions, photos, video clips, and artist biographies; managing and tracking orders, payments and royalties owed to artists; and presenting a robust visual Web site that would be able to present a variety of promotions. No other databases seemed to offer these options."

With the help of Michael Blossom, a 4D developer consultant, the VDB began implementing a 4th Dimension solution over ten years ago to help accomplish these goals, and the organization has been using 4D ever since. Beginning with a single-user database back then, the VDB is now running a custom database program with the increased enhancements provided by 4D Server v6.7 and various plug-ins. One plug-in provides capabilities such as horizontal scrolling, user-resizable columns, automatic column sizing and formatting, copying to the clipboard, drag-and-drop interfaces, and more. The dynamic Web interface of VDB is fueled by 4D WebSTAR 4.

According to Blossom, one of the largest demands of the VDB was a tool that could automatically calculate the royalty amounts owed to artists, and with 4D, this was easily accomplished. "A custom program is used by everyone in the office, and it tracks all of their catalog titles and compilations, artists, customers, invoices, shipping, and royalties, " said Blossom. "The automation of royalty calculation is one of the major timesavers for them; many others in the field are still calculating royalties by hand."

In addition, the increasing emergence of artists creating work on video throughout the years demanded a database solution that was not only fully scalable, but one that maintained ease-of-use and affordability. "4th Dimension is perfectly positioned for an enterprise like the Video Data Bank," notes Blossom. "A ‘simpler’ program like FileMaker® or Microsoft Access® often proves to be not-so-simple when more advanced functionality is needed. 4D Server provides the VDB with the ability to quickly implement advanced new features, but without high overhead and administration hassles." As a developer, Blossom raves about 4D’s ability to update and install new structure files with ease. "One feature of 4D that is wonderful is the ability for a developer to make changes to the database structure with new fields, changed field definitions, or new tables, and then send it to the client’s office," remarks Blossom. "The installation process is as simple as someone in the office taking down 4D Server and relaunching it with the new structure file." After this is done, 4D automatically updates the existing data to match the new structure, with no importing or exporting necessary. Essentially, 4D’s unique architecture allows for maintenance and feature updates without needing a developer on-site.

4D and 4D WebSTAR Bring Art to Life on the Web

While the VDB’s data management needs are significant, perhaps just as significant is the need to connect much of this data to the Web in robust and compelling ways. With the strong combination of 4D Server and 4D Client, and 4D WebSTAR as the Web server, video art is brought to life on the VDB Web site through video clips, artist interviews, and powerful searches that enable users to find videos by title, artist, and subject. In the solution that Blossom has implemented, the 4D WebSTAR server receives a request for a dynamic Web page and the request is passed along to 4D Client. 4D Client then responds with dynamically created HTML, which is then forwarded by 4D WebSTAR back to the requesting user. An HTML template is stored in the 4D database for each type of dynamic page. "The VDB can change the entire look of the site without making any changes to the 4D application," explains Blossom. "Each HTML template contains special tags to represent dynamic information. When a dynamic page is requested, 4D Client finds the appropriate template, and replaces the special tags with information from the database." In addition to the ease with which site features can be changed without further programming, 4D Client also has an extremely fast response time when requests are made. According to Blossom, this is because "4D Client loads all of the needed templates and database data into memory at startup, so it actually only accesses the server periodically to update the information in memory for records that have changed." In essence, since no communication with the server is needed in order to generate a Web page, the Web site remains undisturbed if the server or network should be slowed for any reason.

4D WebSTAR was the Web server of choice for Blossom and the VDB for its speed, security, ease-of-use, and scalability. For the VDB, the 4D WebSTAR server is fast for serving both static pages, as well as communicating with 4D. Blossom also utilizes 4D WebSTAR’s flexible realm security as well as customizable, extended log formats, where information about each request can be chosen outside of the standard set of information. Blossom finds the 4D Server and 4D WebSTAR combination extremely scalable as well, which fits the needs of the VDB’s growing collection of video art as well as the increasing Web audience. "If in a couple of years the Web site is being slowed down by too many hits, we can just set up a second machine with 4D Client and 4D WebSTAR to double our capacity," projects Blossom. "Also, using 4D Client to handle Web requests improves security because we can set up a special ‘user’ to be logged in on the Web server machine, and that user never modifies records and has no access to sensitive data."

Aggressive Search Features of the VDB Solution

4D technologies allow developers to create customized, innovative solutions for businesses and organizations everywhere. In the case of the VDB, Blossom was able to generate features called "qualifiers," which contribute to a more streamlined approach to organizing the art, and ultimately allow searches to be done more quickly and efficiently. One or several categories of qualifiers can be created by any member of the VDB staff, and within each of these categories can be created as many qualifiers as needed. A specific qualifier can then be attached to one or more titles of video art. "’Genre’ is a qualifier category, and it contains qualifiers like ‘Documentary’ and ‘Animation,’" explains Blossom. Searches can then be performed that involve a number of different qualifiers. "Making this even more powerful is the ability to attach an HTML template to a qualifier," continues Blossom. "If the VDB decides to make a Web page featuring all of their documentaries, they can do this very easily, and without any additional 4D programming."

For the Video Data Bank, Michael Blossom’s 4D development work has proven to be crucial to their data management needs and their robust Web site. Blossom will soon be adding an e-commerce shopping cart feature to the site as well. As the director of the VDB, Kate Horsfield witnesses the benefits of 4D at every database or Web interaction she has with VDB's 4D solution. "Our database functions as an information center containing all relevant information about our business," said Horsfield. "There have been so many benefits to using 4D, but the most important for us has been the constant flow and quality of information that is evenly accessible to all staff as well as all global clients."

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